So, let’s say you’re moving at 10 m/s. If you then increase to 30 m/s, that means your acceleration is 3m/s2. This is an exponential increase in speed.

If instead you were going at 50 m/s and increased your velocity to 150 m/s, this would be a linear increase in speed. In this case, your acceleration would be 15m/s2 since it’s a linear change (faster than double).

Now if you go from 10 m/s to 10 + 100 = 110 m/s, this would also be a linear change (slower than double). Your acceleration would then be 11m/s2.

OR

So, if your speed is 3 times greater than before, and you’re moving in the same direction, the acceleration will be 3 times greater than before.

And how much faster will you be going? Well, if you were going 5 miles per hour before, and your acceleration was 1 mile per hour per second (1 mph/s), then you would be going 15 mph after that acceleration. And if your acceleration was 2 mph/s, then you’d be going 30 mph after that acceleration.

Last modified: September 20, 2022